senators reid and mcconnell are discussing an agreement. given how things happen working in this town we always have to wait and see until it actually happens. the one thing the american people should not have to wait and see is some sort of action. if we do not see an agreement between the two leaders in the senate, i expect a bill to go on the floor, and i asked senator reid to do this, put a bill on the floor and make sure that taxes on middle-class families to not go up, the unemployment insurance is still available for 2 million people, and that lays the groundwork for additional deficit-reduction and economic growth steps we can take in the new year. but let's not miss this deadline. that is the bare minimum we should be able to get done. and it should not be that hard. democrats and republicans both say they do not want to see taxes go up on middle-class families. i just have to repeat. outside of washington, and nobody understands how is that this seems to be a repeat pattern, over and over again. ordinary folks, they do their jobs.